Rios Delivers Walk-Off Hit In 4-3 Bats Victory Over Knights

Edwin Ríos supplied a walk-off double in the bottom of the ninth inning to send the Bats to a 4-3 win and series triumph over the Charlotte Knights on Sunday afternoon at Louisville Slugger Field.

Casey Kelly, the son of Bats manager Pat Kelly and in his debut, pitched three scoreless frames while allowing just one hit. Offensively, Erik Gonzalez and Ivan Johnson both hit solo home runs and Ríos capped off the day with his walk-off two-bagger.

Kelly found himself in some trouble in the first. Zach DeLoach led the afternoon off with a single and advanced to second on an error in center field, but Kelly leaned on back-to-back diving plays by Johnson at second base to get out of the frame unscathed.

Louisville threatened in their first turn at the plate as well vs. Charlotte starter Sean Burke. A single by Blake Dunn and a walk by Rece Hinds put two on with no outs, but consecutive strikeouts followed by a flyout allowed Burke to escape with a zero.

The Knights were kept quiet by Kelly in the second, and the Bats were first on the board in the bottom half. González launched a hanging curveball over the center-field wall for his fourth home run this season to give the Bats a 1-0 lead.

After Kelly completed his day with another scoreless frame in the third, Lyon Richardson came on in the top of the fourth and built on Kelly’s strong work by beginning his day with two scoreless innings. Even with Charlotte going to reliever Sammy Peralta in the fourth, the Bats also couldn’t get anything going on offense as the 1-0 score held going into the sixth inning.

Richardson came back on in the sixth and was quickly caught in a jam. After striking out Tim Elko, the righty hit Colson Montgomery, allowed a single to Oscar Colás, and walked Rafael Ortega to load the bases with one out. Wilmer Difo took advantage with a sacrifice fly that scored Montgomery and tied the game at 1-1, but that was all the Knights could get across in the frame.

Louisville took no time bouncing back in the home half vs. Knights reliever Prelander Berroa. Tucker Barnhart worked a walk and González singled to set up Johnson with two outs, and the second baseman came through with a double that drove in Barnhart and put the Bats back in front at 2-1.

Evan Kravetz was called on for the seventh and walked the first two Knights he faced, setting up Charlotte with a chance to tie or take the lead. The lefty then forced Edgar Quero to ground into a well-timed double play and struck out Montgomery to maintain the Bats one-run lead.

In the eighth, Alan Busenitz was next out of the bullpen. The righty worked around a couple of walks to continue a stellar afternoon for the staff with another zero.

Johnson gave Louisville some much-needed breathing room in the bottom of the eighth, blasting his second homer of the year just inside the right-field foul pole to extend the Bats advantage to 3-1.

Zach Maxwell came on for the save in the ninth and looked to be cruising after striking out the first two batters he faced. Charlotte had other plans, recording four straight singles to storm back and tie the game at 3-3, but a fantastic throw by Joey Wiemer in center field earned the final out at third base to send the game into extra innings.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Bats had a walk-off win in their sights against the Knights’ Adisyn Coffey. Hinds struck out to start the frame, but Wiemer talled a single and Edwin Ríos mashed a double into the gap to score Wiemer and deliver the 4-3 victory.

The Bats (55-57, 17-21 second half) head on the road for a six-game set with the Omaha Storm Chasers (69-42, 20-18 second half) beginning on Tuesday night. First pitch is set for 7:35 p.m. with Nick Curran on the call for 1450/96.1 WXVW.